


Something New and Beautiful

by anxious_logic



Series: Soulmate September 2020 [11]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxious_logic/pseuds/anxious_logic
Summary: Remy and Virgil join their school's GSA. At one of the meetings, they learn something about soulmates that their school never taught them.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Sleep | Remy Sanders
Series: Soulmate September 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907686
Comments: 12
Kudos: 82





	Something New and Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate September Day 11: Choose any Soulmate AU.
> 
> This is kind of a prequel for an endgame LAMP storyline that I thought up a few months ago. People get their soulmate tattoos when they are ready to meet a soulmate/spend the rest of their lives with someone (usually somewhere in their mid/late teens or early twenties). It is black, and when someone else in the relationship gets the tattoo as well it fills in with color. When a soulmate dies, the colored portion turns white.
> 
> Warnings: Very minor very background past character death, bigots being bigots, child neglect, panic attack, I think that’s all but lmk if there’s anything else and feel free to message me on tumblr for more detailed warnings.

“We should join the GSA,” Remy said one say, spread out on Virgil’s bed. Virgil bulled his earbud out, staring at the other boy from where he was curled up in the corner of his bed.

“Y’know, I think I just heard you say that we should join the GSA. But that can’t be right, because you know I have anxiety, and you know better than to make me do something I don’t want to do, especially when it involves other people.”

Remy rolled over to face Virgil. “No, I’m serious, hun. It’d give you a chance to meet new people, and I’d get to flirt to my heart’s content. I’m not saying I’m tired of you, I’m not saying you have to date anyone, I’m just saying that it can be nice to have someone to complain to about me.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, but didn’t immediately argue. Remy seized on the silence.

“C’mon,” he wheedled. “It’d get you out of my house for a bit, and keep you away from yours.”

“Fine,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes and putting in his other earbud.

Remy knew the other boy was actually excited.

***

It was the fourth GSA meeting of the year. Virgil and Remy had made a few acquaintances; they’d begun hanging out with a couple kids named Kai and Elliott.

“Hey everyone!” Joan, one of the GSA leaders, said, to gain everyone’s attention. “Find a seat, and we’ll get started.”

As students sat in the chairs organized in a circle, Talyn, the other leader, spoke up.

“Today we’re going to be talking about soulmates,” they said. “This can be a hard topic for some people. There’s no shame in leaving now, or excusing yourself during the meeting if you decide to stay.”

“Talyn and I are going to stick around for a bit after the meeting,” Joan chimed in. “If you want to talk to one or both of us privately, you can do that then.”

A few people had quietly exited the room while Joan and Talyn were talking. Virgil had noticed one rubbing a mark that had turned white, on the back of xyr hand; another had left clutching the hand of her partner.

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” Joan continued. “This is just a topic that can be helpful to talk about for some people.”

Virgil was focusing very hard on not grabbing his mark, which had been filled in with dark blue a quarter of the way about two years ago.

“Let’s start with asking if any of you have marks,” Talyn said. “Again, you don’t have to share anything if you don’t want to.”

About ten of the twenty students present raised their hands. Virgil hesitantly joined them, ducking his head.

“Would anyone like to share their story?” Talyn asked, lacing their fingers with Joan’s. There was a pause when nobody responded, but then Kai raised their hand.

“Um… I can start, I guess?”

Talyn nodded at them to go.

“Uh. I guess… well, I got the mark when my dad got married to my stepmom. I was 15, it was just last year. It didn’t feel like it was a particularly climactic day, or anything- but, yeah. Um, I guess that’s it.”

“Thanks for sharing,” Joan said, fidgeting a bit with their beanie. “Would anyone else like to talk?”

A few other people shared how and when they got their soulmarks – all of them were 13 or older when they had gotten theirs.

_Why was I only 6…_ Virgil couldn’t help but wonder. He… really didn’t think that a six-year-old would be ready for a soulmate. _But that’s just the way things are,_ he reminded himself as he felt Remy’s fingers squeeze his.

“Um, can I go next?” Elliott said. They looked nervous.

“Sure!” Talyn smiled back.

“Um… okay. So… I got my mark young. I was 10.”

The room went completely silent.

“My brother was… a dick, sorry for the language. But… well, he hadn’t been very nice to me. My parents told me they were getting divorced, and I’d probably mostly stay with my mom. I was closer to my dad, so that was really hard to hear.”

They took a deep breath. “That was also when I first started to really question my gender. I was scared, and confused, and everything was changing, and I didn’t feel like I had anyone to talk to. And… I got my mark.”

Their hand wandered to their ankle.

“I always wonder when I would’ve gotten it normally, if I hadn’t been so lonely and needed the support.”

Vrigil froze. “What?” he asked, very, very quietly. The whole room heard him anyway.

“Well- it’s not talked about much, but you can get a mark for two main reasons. The first, which most everyone knows, is that you’re ready to spend the rest of your life with someone. The other reason, which is talked about much less, is that you need someone else; maybe to talk to or spend time with or just to love you. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but just because you feel so alone and helpless.”

Virgil didn’t know who said the words, but he heard them regardless. _You need someone else… to love you… because you feel so alone and helpless._

Well, fuck. That made sense now.

He ran out of the classroom, ripping his hand out of Remy’s.

***

4\. 7- try again.

4- it’s okay.

4\. 7.

_Knock knock._

“Hey, Virge? You okay?”

_Remy._

Virgil blindly felt for the stall latch, unlocking it and letting the other boy in.

“Hey, you okay?” Remy asked, crouching to get on Virgil’s level. Virgil threw his arms around him in response, feeling the other boy stagger back a bit.

“Whoah,” Remy said, bringing his arms up to rub Virgil’s back. “What’s going on?”

Virgil just shook his head, hiding his face in the crook of Remy’s neck. He breathed in the calming smell of _coffee-leather-Remy._

“I’m here,” Virgil heard. “It’s okay.”

He took a few more shuddering breaths, counting them out in his head.

4\. 7-again.

4\. 7. 8.

4\. 7. 8.

4\. 7. 8.

He backed up to look Remy in the eyes.

“Hey,” Remy said. “Do you want to tell me what that was all about, gurl?”

Virgil took a deep breath, squeezing Remy’s forearms and looking down.

“Promise you won’t be mad?” he asked.

“Hun, I promise.”

Virgil blew out a breath.

“Okay. So you know how when we got the big talk from the school about soulmarks, I told you I got it when I was 12?”

“Of course,” Remy said. “And then you asked if we could not talk about them anymore. And we haven’t.”

“Yeah,” Virgil replied, carefully studying the collar of the other boy’s jacket. “So… that wasn’t true.”

He ducked his head and shrank back. Remy didn’t respond for a few seconds.

“Um. Okay.” There was a pause. “Can you tell me the truth, then?”

Virgil could hear the hurt that Remy was trying to hold back.

“I got it when I was 6,” he mumbled quietly.

He felt Remy freeze, and looked up to see an expression of pure rage burning behind his eyes.

“Explain. Now,” Remy said, deathly quiet. Virgil gulped.

“Um. My parents… kind of neglected me. I mean, I had food all the time, and a place to sleep, and people to wash the clothes and do the dishes and stuff, but my parents were gone on trips and stuff a lot. I really only saw the housekeeper when they were gone, and he only came over a few times a week.”

Remy’s eyes were flashing, but he didn’t say anything.

“Um… technically, it’s still that way, I guess. I still don’t see them very often. But now I have you, so it’s okay.”

“It’s really not, babe,” Remy said, and took a deep breath. “But your mark?”

“I… um. Honestly, I don’t really know exactly when I got it. It might have been that I got a scrape and nobody was there to tell me it was okay; it might have been that I wanted a snack but couldn’t reach; maybe I was just feeling super lonely that day. I don’t know, I just woke up one day, and… there it was.”

Remy growled slightly, but seemed to catch himself. “So… did you just not know what it was for years? Or what?”

“Thomas – the housekeeper – saw it. He told me what it was, and why I got it. Except… obviously not. Because I wasn’t ready for a soulmate at the age of _six._ I needed someone. Anyone. And I didn’t have them. So I got my mark. I didn’t know there was another reason you could get soulmarks until today.”

Virgil pulled back to meet Remy’s eyes when he didn’t respond. “You okay?”

“Holy _fucking shit_ I am going to _kill your parents,”_ Remy said. The air around him seemed hot with fury.

“Please don’t,” Virgil said. “If you did that I’d have to live with Aunt Bertha, and you know how much we hate her.”

“No. No more jokes,” Remy cut in. “You don’t get to tell me you were so alone at _age six_ that you got a tat, and then joke about your fucking _Aunt Bertha."_ He grabbed Virgil’s head, pulling him forward until their foreheads touched. “I promise you,” he continued, voice tight with tears. “I promise that you will never, _ever,_ feel that alone. Ever again.”

Virgil blinked, surprised at the sudden forcefulness, but didn’t pull back.

“Well, thanks,” he said. “But how are you going to do that?”

Remy looked him in the eye, his jaw set and a tear trickling down his face. He seemed to make a decision, nodding suddenly.

“I”ll love you no matter what. I’ll support you. I’ll be there for you. Like a soulmate. Until we both meet ours.”

They were still pressed together forehead-to-forehead. Virgil’s breath hitched.

“I- _what?”_

“Virgil, will you be my boyfriend?”

Virgil jerked back.

“No. Listen. It’d- it’d help us with the bigots in town, ‘cause we’d be ‘practicing for the soulmate’ or whatever stupid bullshit. And maybe our parents would let us be together more often? And, um. Having someone who I know I can lean on… would be really nice.”

Virgil closed his eyes and counted a breath. Remy’s reasoning was good. It all made sense. And… even though Virgil had soulmates – three, judging by the tat – he never really… _expected_ to meet them.

_And maybe you wanted this before today too,_ a voice whispered. He very quickly stepped on that voice and killed it.

“Okay,” Virgil whispered.

Remy leaned forward, and their lips connected.

**Author's Note:**

> Everything else I have for this verse is bulletfics right now, but I might write them up and maybe even turn them into full-fledged fics...? Not sure yet. Let me know if you're interested in seeing more!
> 
> Leave a comment/kudos if you liked this?
> 
> I'm on tumblr @anxious-logic!


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